This invention relates to devices which can be driven into the ground to provide anchorage points for tethering lines or guy ropes, and more specifically to such devices for use in connection with the guy ropes of tents and marquees. Such devices are referred to herein as ground anchors.
Conventional tent pegs consist of flat pieces of wood which are pointed at one end, with a notch formed in one side of the peg adjacent the other end. Although such pegs are still in use in connection with larger sizes of tents and marquees, they have been replaced for smaller tents, in the interests of lightness and economy of space, by metal skewers, which either have an open eye at one end or are bent over to form a hook.
Such devices, although convenient because they are:
a) light,
b) take up little space, and
c) do not require a mallet to drive them into the ground,
are not entirely satisfactory because they tend to bend and pull out under load, particularly if the ground is soft.
The latter failing applies also to conventional tent pegs because a narrow dimension of the peg is presented to the line of tension of the line attached to the peg.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved ground anchor.
According to the present invention there is provided a ground anchor comprising a channel-section ground-penetrating base member, and a second member at or adjacent one end of the ground-penetrating base member and projecting (or capable of projecting) therefrom at an inclination to the base of the channel of the ground-penetrating base member, said second member also being of channel section and provided with an attachment point for a tether.
The ground-penetrating base member is preferably pointed at its other end to facilitate penetration thereof into the ground.
The attachment point may be afforded by notches in the side walls of the second channel-section member.
The second member is preferably secured at its one end to the ground-penetrating base member with the notches in the side walls of the second member adjacent the other end thereof.
The second member may be rigidly secured to the ground-penetrating base member so that it projects therefrom at a fixed acute angle to the base of the channel of the ground-penetrating base member.
Alternatively, the second member is pivotally connected to the ground-penetrating base member and is movable between a storage condition, in which it is contained within the side walls of the ground-penetrating base member and an operative position in which it projects at an acute angle to the plane of the base of the channel of the ground-penetrating base member.
The pivotal connection between the second member and the ground-penetrating base member preferably includes stop means to limit the extent of movement of the second member relative to the ground-penetrating base member.
The arrangement is preferably such that, in use, the ground-penetrating base member is forced into the ground at an inclination to the vertical such that the second member is maintained substantially horizontal.